Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Morning session (8:30  11:20) Jennifer Reeve introduced the meeting and the agenda. Introductions Each participant introduced themselves, a brief overview of their work, a summary of activities completed relative to SCC 083, and announcements. Announcements Pat Carr  Potential Food Collaborations - Pat recently spoke with representatives from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND, formerly American Dietetic Association) in an effort to solicit expertise on the food aspects of SCC 083. AND is comprised of a number of professional practice groups. The Hunger and Environmental Nutrition practice group might be a good fit for collaboration. Pat will follow up accordingly, perhaps inviting to a virtual meeting (see notes below). Eric Young  Update on status of the Farm Bill  The conference committee has finally started meeting, and according to Erics contacts, the lobbyists feel like it will probably pass this calendar year, although progress is still held up by SNAP. However, lawmakers are looking for way to show they can compromise, so maybe there is hope for passage. Based on current versions of Farm bill and political will demonstrated to date, it is likely funding for bioenergy efforts will drop, and Hatch, Smith-Lever, AFRI, and ARS appear to be poised for increases in funding. Organic Ag Mandatory Programs have funding in both the Senate and House versions of the legislation (Senate version: 80 million; House version: 100 million). It is pretty likely the OREI will remain in the 2013 Farm Bill, likely funded at 16-20 million/year. If the Farm Bill passes, funds would come available FY 2015 (October 1, 2014), which means NIFA could release an OREI call in the early months of 2014 (note: this is a best case scenario). Discussion Themes Participation The group discussed various meeting options, including different society annual meetings, etc. but concluded that attendance at annual meetings was best at ASA- SSSA- CSSA meetings for core participants, although this venue might limit collaborations. Eric noted that consistency in meeting schedule tends to increase participation and stabilize attendance. The group decided to pilot a model of 2 meetings per year: 1 physical meeting at the Tri-Societies Conference, and 1 virtual meeting approximately 6 months later. Stay tuned for details on technology and agenda. Review paper Jennifer has spearheaded the creation of a review article covering the scope of this groups work. The manuscript is currently slated for publication in the journal Sustainability. Jennifer is guest editor of a special issue on organic agriculture. The benefits of this venue are that it is open access, potential drawback is that the journal is indexed (web of science, SCIE and SSCI) but is not ranked yet in terms of journal citation reports. The current deadline is January 15, 2014 for submission. Other venues discussed include Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, Critical Reviews in Plant Science, or the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation if the deadline is not reached. Current goal is to aim for January 15 and Sustainability as the venue. Notes on the article: The focus is the question of How does sustainable management influence quality? Using organic plant production systems as the model. Jennifer has a working draft that has been circulated to the group at the time of this writing. She has enlisted the help of Laurie Hoagland to aid in the soil microbiology pieces and also Amaya Atucha to help with the treefruit section. The following areas are still in need of expansion/writing leadership: Role of environmental, cultivar, training system  Amaya Atachua and Xin Zhao Role of fertilizers on produce quality - Amaya Atacha and Xin Zhao and or Krista Jacobsen? Role of herbivory on produce quality  Larry Phelan Role of breeding on produce quality  Don Davis Food and human health  unwritten  Any ideas who could contribute? Do we want this section? Linking everything together and identifying major holes  Larry Phelan, Jennifer Reeve others ? If you have an idea of what some of the major gaps in knowledge are, please e-mail your list to Jennifer. Jennifer will send the article to the entire SCC 083 group to enlist help filling gaps and the final writing push. Jennifer needs input before Christmas to meet the January 15 deadline (if not before). Eric said to make sure to pull out and send the gaps to the National Program Leaders in the Organic Programs. Ideally, these gaps might show up in future program priorities. Review paper - future directions Given the discussion at the 2012 annual meeting and subsequent discussion in the 2013 meeting, this article could be an initial framing type paper that would provide the foundation for future book authored by SCC 083 project members. This would be a point of discussion for future meetings, pending successful publication of the article and sufficient interest from group members (and a publisher). Afternoon session (1:30-2:05)  Issues in Organic Systems Discussion Given the unique opportunity to discuss salient issues in organic farming systems, the group decided to spend + 45 minutes discussing issues in organic farming systems. That brief discussion/idea exchange is summarized below: Herbicide contamination issues - Glyphosate impacts in organic farming  Joseph cited the potential issues with widespread use of glyphosate on soil fertility (glyphosate as a chelator), and potential effects on soil microbial activity and roots as an opportunity for collaboration and potential investigation on the effects of glyphosate on food quality (due to micronutrient deficiencies). Joseph propose study of RR soy and organic. - Update on herbicide issues in compost  Craig provided an update on chlorpyralid contamination and aminopyralid contamination in yard debris compost and the effects on urban gardeners and organic farmers in the Pacific Northwest (where there has been a hotbed of activity on this issue). This is a recurring issues, and recently WSU-Pullman experienced herbicide contamination in their community gardens. Craig and colleagues as WSU did some bioassay work, which led to the ban of chlorpyralid and aminopyralid in their area. Soil fertility discussion - There was significant discussion in the group throughout the day on issues of soil fertility in organic farming systems, especially as related to over application of composts and the need for integrated nutrient management plans for organic farms. There was discussion as to whether there are extension publications out in existence that can provide these resources, and whether there is a potential role for this group to play in this conversation. This is an item for future discussion, with potential areas of work for this group including: o Soil test recommendations and their fit for organic farming systems o Overall soil fertility methodologies that fit organic systems across a range of climates, and how to present holistic fertility management systems to organic farmers. Afternoon session (2:05  3:00)  What is the future of this group? Discussion With increased participation this year and lively discussion at the annual meeting, the consensus was: - Continue SCC 083 - Use the paper as an opportunity to generate output - Move forward with transitioning SCC 083 to an S-multistate project (this is a change from a multistate coordinating committee focused on networking to a multistate research project) Future directions - Increased role of food scientists and partnerships to expand on the food quality component of SCC 083. Ideas welcome! - Transitioning to an S- project o SCC 083 will expire in September 2015. Given the lively discussion about the results from various members research projects, and how they are similar or differ from other systems and climates, the participants felt there was sufficient interest to move forward with transitioning to a multistate research project. o The future S-project would be focused on examining the linkages described in SCC 083 across farming systems and climates, utilizing study systems participants already have in place. o Eric noted that having a common protocol used in all systems, and/or an equipment/analytical dependency common to all systems is a standard approach to S-projects. o Future steps § An inventory of all participants have ongoing systems research projects in (see table below). § Assess resources present in inventory and decide on S-project focus. Foci discussed included Soil management for food quality and measuring and managing soil nutrient levels in organic production. Future meetings and roles - Election results  Jennifer will continue another year as coordinator, Krista will be secretary for next year. - Virtual Meeting: early March 2014 (pre-spring break) - Next physical meeting: ASA Long Beach on Thursday/Friday prior to conference (spend all meeting talking about new proposal). Perhaps at a college in Long Beach to get a hard internet connection for virtual participants. - Goals before next meeting o Review article submitted o Draft language for future S-proposal? (this could be covered in 2014-2015) o Electronic discussion of what the next steps are, pending feedback from meeting notes and review article progress.